RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Onset of Mediterranean outflow into the North Atlantic
JF Science
JO Science
FD American Association for the Advancement of Science
SP 1244
OP 1250
DO 10.1126/science.1251306
VO 344
IS 6189
A1 Hernández-Molina, F. Javier
A1 Stow, Dorrik A. V.
A1 Alvarez-Zarikian, Carlos A.
A1 Acton, Gary
A1 Bahr, André
A1 Balestra, Barbara
A1 Ducassou, Emmanuelle
A1 Flood, Roger
A1 Flores, José-Abel
A1 Furota, Satoshi
A1 Grunert, Patrick
A1 Hodell, David
A1 Jimenez-Espejo, Francisco
A1 Kim, Jin Kyoung
A1 Krissek, Lawrence
A1 Kuroda, Junichiro
A1 Li, Baohua
A1 Llave, Estefania
A1 Lofi, Johanna
A1 Lourens, Lucas
A1 Miller, Madeline
A1 Nanayama, Futoshi
A1 Nishida, Naohisa
A1 Richter, Carl
A1 Roque, Cristina
A1 Pereira, Hélder
A1 Sanchez Goñi, Maria Fernanda
A1 Sierro, Francisco J.
A1 Singh, Arun Deo
A1 Sloss, Craig
A1 Takashimizu, Yasuhiro
A1 Tzanova, Alexandrina
A1 Voelker, Antje
A1 Williams, Trevor
A1 Xuan, Chuang
YR 2014
UL http://science.sciencemag.org/content/344/6189/1244.abstract
AB The trickle of water that began to flow from the Mediterranean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean after the opening of the Strait of Gibraltar turned into a veritable flood by the end of the Pliocene 2 to 3 million years ago. It then began to influence large-scale ocean circulation in earnest. Hernández-Molina et al. describe marine sediment cores collected by an ocean drilling expedition (see the Perspective by Filippelli). The results reveal a detailed history of the timing of Mediterranean outflow water activity and show how the addition of that warm saline water to the cooler less-salty waters of the Atlantic was related to climate changes, deep ocean circulation, and plate tectonics.Science, this issue p. 1244; see also p. 1228 Sediments cored along the southwestern Iberian margin during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 339 provide constraints on Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) circulation patterns from the Pliocene epoch to the present day. After the Strait of Gibraltar opened (5.33 million years ago), a limited volume of MOW entered the Atlantic. Depositional hiatuses indicate erosion by bottom currents related to higher volumes of MOW circulating into the North Atlantic, beginning in the late Pliocene. The hiatuses coincide with regional tectonic events and changes in global thermohaline circulation (THC). This suggests that MOW influenced Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), THC, and climatic shifts by contributing a component of warm, saline water to northern latitudes while in turn being influenced by plate tectonics.